Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation is being developed for the big screen. The novel, which the Telegraph (of London) described as a "horrifying exposé of what life is like for some young boys in an unnamed African state afflicted by civil war", chronicles the journey of Agu, a young boy caught in the middle of civil war in an unnamed West African country. He is conscripted into a unit of mercenary fighters. Agu is haunted by the murder of his father, even as he confronts the traumas of war with his new-found friend, a mute boy named Strika. Although the book does not give any direct clue as to which country it takes place in, there are several details which suggest it is in Nigeria.
Now the tale of rape, death, looting and starvation is making it to the big screen, flaunting Idris Elba, 40, who will star in the film as a military commander as well as a producer on the film. Elba is fresh from a role in Guillermo del Toro's monsters-versus-robots fantasy Pacific Rim.
The film is directed by Cary Fukunga, who is no stranger to tackling difficult, gritty subjects. Fukunga, who has been credited with the scripting and directing of Sin Nombre, which is an intense narrative about a Honduran teenager -who on reuniting with her long-estranged father - attempts to emigrate to the US.
Of Iweala's bestselling novel, Fukunga said: "This project has been seven years in the making, so to say I'm excited to start shooting this - and with Idris Elba as lead - would be me trying to play it cool."
Beasts of No Nation is a 2005 novel by Uzodinma Iweala, the son of Nigerian Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
Culled from website allafrica.com: 26 August 2013
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